Saturday, July 28, 2007

Fwd: Animation takes off in Hong Kong

While Hong Kong's signature gangster and kung fu flicks are losing ground to Chinese historical epics, the computer-animated cartoon TMNT made in the city has earned an estimated $US93 million worldwide since its March release.

Hong Kong company Centro Digital Pictures also has been chosen to make Disney's first-ever non-Hollywood Chinese movie, "The Magic Gourd," which mixes animation and live action.

Animators here boast that they offer a unique sensibility that combines Hong Kong's action cinema legacy and a deep awareness of both Asian and Western cartoon traditions in an English-speaking environment.

Industry experts say, however, that Hong Kong animators are merely taking outsourcing jobs from Hollywood by offering cheaper pricing while not generating creative ideas on their own - a point that people here concede is true, at least for now. (這一點大家同意嗎?)

At Imagi, which designed the turtle fighters in TMNT, Co-Chief Executive Douglas Glen is gung-ho about the prospects of a company that once made artificial Christmas trees and furniture and switched over to animation completely in 2002.

The former Mattel executive said computer artists in this Chinese-ruled former British colony blend the best of the East and the West.

"If our director says, 'I want this character in this film to react like Wilma Flintstone to this situation,' they get it, because people here have seen The Flintstones and they've seen all the Japanese anime," he said.

Glen said for TMNT - a take-off on the 1990's Teen-age Mutant Ninja Turtle films - Imagi didn't even hire an action choreographer because kung fu is "in the DNA" of its 350 Hong Kong-based animators.

During a visit to Imagi's Hong Kong offices, animators worked on computer drawings in cubicles cluttered with figurines including Mr Potato Head and the popular Japanese character Doraemon. Neighbouring shelves were lined with Japanese comic books.

But while Hong Kong's computer graphics industry dates back some two decades, it's still growing. A survey of 57 "digital entertainment companies" in 2004 - the most recent study of its kind - found that most employed fewer than 10 people and about a third had annual revenues of under $HK500,000.

說老實話，香港要在動畫工業上發展如韓國，是需要多方面配合的，無論人材培育及資源投放，都是香港現時欠缺的事。近幾年，韓國在線上遊戲及Flash的東西上，確是搞得不錯，但動畫方面，還是以代工為主（"Avatar" from Nickelodeon,本人覺得算是近年做得不錯的一套，也是大賣東方神秘及功夫武打），而創作電影也有幾套，風格十分東洋，質素卻不及日本卡通。但是，要做到這樣的一步，就要說回十年前，韓國巳經發展數碼娛樂的東西，無論大學教育或營商優惠，都務實執行。那麼，九七年的香港正在做什麼呢？香港每年投資在電影及音樂上的資金都在遞減，還有多少人肯花十年金錢及時間，來成就這一門事業呢？我不知道，希望不要太少就是了！